McDevitt Era Gets Underway As Owls Battle Gettysburg

Oct 27, 2018

BRYN MAWR, Pa. - The Bryn Mawr swim team kicked off their 2018-19 campaign earlier Saturday afternoon with a conference showdown against Gettysburg. In the first meet of Owls head coach Pat McDevitt's career, Bryn Mawr posted plenty of strong performances, including a win in the 100 backstroke by senior Lillian Oyen-Ustad.

Oyen-Ustad had a strong day for the Owls, starting in the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay. The Bullets' "A" and "B" teams picked up the top two spots in that event, but it was Oyen-Ustad's anchor leg for the Bryn Mawr "A" squad that turned some heads. The veteran free/backstroke swimmer threw down a very strong 50-free split as the fourth swimmer in the water for the Owls, swimming her leg in a time of 24:45. That easily outpaced every other freestyle leg in the water for both teams, as she beat the next-closest swimmer from Gettysburg by .64 of a second.

That seemed to set the tone of the day for Oyen-Ustad, who went on to earn a win in the 100 backstroke. Gettysburg's Chloe Fuetterer jumped out to a slight lead in the first half of that race, opening up a quarter-of-a-second advantage on Oyen-Ustad through the first 50 yards. However, Oyen-Ustad battled back brilliantly, swimming an impressive second half of the race to outpace and out-touch Fuetterer with a time of 1:03.19. Oyen-Ustad also claimed third in the 200 freestyle

Becca Adlai-Gail started off her season in strong fashion, especially in the grueling 1000 freestyle. The Owls co-captain put on a very solid performance in that race, staying neck-and-neck with Gettysburg's Paige Griesse throughout the entire race. With that duo locked in a battle for third, Griesse held a slim but noticeable advantage over Adlai-Gail, but the junior co-captain would not be denied. She was able to chase Griesse down and pass her over the final 100 yards to claim third place in the race, finishing in a time of 11:33.89. Adlai-Gail would also claim third place in the 500 freestyle as well.

Bryn Mawr will be right back in action on Friday with their first road meet of the season. The Owls will travel to Swarthmore to take on both the Garnet and Franklin & Marshall on Friday night. That meet is slated to start at 6:30 PM in Swarthmore.